I only want the over-50s
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Actually, before we dive in, there were two very big stories out of Washington Thursday. I'm not counting them in the FFA list below, but I think we need to include them:
First off, layoffs cascaded through the federal government on Thursday after its human resources division advised agencies to terminate most of an estimated 200,000 workers on probation (meaning they were hired in the last two years). That’s in addition to about 75,000 workers who accepted an offer to resign in exchange for being paid through September. The entire federal government’s civilian work force is about 2.3 million -- or was, before the cuts. (New York Times)
Second, the interim U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, Danielle Sasson resigned her office rather than execute an order to drop federal corruption and fraud charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams -- but only through the 2025 mayoral election, so that Adams could assist with Trump immigration enforcement in the meantime -- saying in a letter to Attorney General Bondi that the deal "amounted to a quid pro quo." Soon afterward, the case was transferred to the Justice Department's Public Integrity section in Washington, where five other top attorneys resigned as well instead of following the order. (Also, New York Times)
The Investor Betting on People In Their 50s and 60s—Because Older Is Better
Forget what you think you know about brilliant young entrepreneurs. Most people who start successful companies are in middle age or beyond.
Bridget Johns has always been entrepreneurial. She had just never actually been an entrepreneur.
She grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and ran a corn stand in her driveway. Instead of getting an allowance, she got piglets that she raised and sold at the county fair. After college and business school, she held a series of jobs at luxury retailers in offshoot divisions that felt to her more like startups. Then she worked as an executive at an actual startup.
But she had always dreamed of building a company of her own. A few years ago, she decided that if she didn’t take the risk then, she never would. So she did.
Johns became a first-time founder—at the age of 51.
A suburban mom with decades of experience in her industry might not be the first person who comes to mind when you picture a venture-backed entrepreneur building an AI-powered company.
As it turns out, that’s exactly why Katerina Stroponiati chose to invest in her.
Stroponiati is a venture capitalist with a contrarian theory of entrepreneurial success: She believes that older founders can make for better founders.
In fact, she recently launched a small fund to back founders of early-stage tech companies with qualities that every investor looks for—and one that no other investor looks for.
They have to be a certain age: at least 50 years old.
Small Change: What Happened When Other Countries Got Rid of Their Pennies
What happened when other countries eliminated their 1-cent coins?
In short, not much. Countries that have eliminated low-denomination coins have saved the cost of minting the currency, and cash transactions are rounded up or down in 5-cent increments. If anything, countries that have eliminated the lowest-value denominations of currency often implement subsequent changes to phase out the next-smallest increment. In other words: Watch your back, nickel.
(Money)
Downwardly Mobile
Inside a retreat for billionaire heirs looking to give away their money
Among the fabulously rich heirs in the room, everyone's "wealth shadow" looks different. For some, it takes the form of an X as they hold their forearms across their faces. Others curl up on the floor with their heads in their hands. Some crouch as if to protect themselves from an incoming blast, like the ghostly cast of a Pompeii victim. As I stand among these 20 or so human statues, still holding the sprigs of rosemary we were given to smell and "arrive back in our bodies," I find myself disabused of any remaining expectation that this was going to be a conventional finance workshop.
Unlike most rich clients, who seek out financial advisors in the hope of getting even richer, the 18- to 35-year-olds at the Making Money Make Change conference in Nashville are here to do the opposite. As the children of millionaires and billionaires, they are among the heirs to the greatest wealth transfer in American history — some $16 trillion that will be passed down in the next decade alone. And they don't want it.
Chinese Temu Sellers Use Fake U.S. Postage Labels to Boost Their Profits
Some vendors have figured out how to maintain ultralow prices: Trick the U.S. postal service into delivering products for free.
Some Chinese Temu merchants are padding their profits by using counterfeit postage labels to trick the U.S. Postal Service into delivering packages for free. Posts on Chinese social media openly promote fake labels for as little as 60 cents, and the scam costs the USPS millions of dollars a year, Rest of World has found from interviews with sellers, logistics operators, and USPS employees.
Creating, distributing, and buying fake USPS labels is a crime, and overseas warehouse operators also risk significant jail time by processing parcels with these labels. It is likely that only a small minority of merchants use counterfeit labels, but these numbers could rise as logistics costs increase. Shipping is a major cost for e-commerce sellers, with USPS charging up to $10 for a parcel weighing about 2 pounds (around 1 kilogram).
“It’s millions upon millions of dollars. … It’s a huge problem,” a person familiar with the investigations by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), which is responsible for cracking down on postal crimes, told Rest of World. “The sheer amount of loss is astronomical,” they said.
How the Gutting of USAID is Reverberating Around the World: Worry, Despair, Praise
Schools. Vaccination programs. Medication and medical equipment. Media organizations. Literacy programs.
All face the chopping block after the Trump administration moved to gut the United States Agency for International Development, the government's foreign aid organization. Over the weekend, a federal judge put a temporary hold on Trump's plans to lay off 2,200 employees. President Trump has accused the agency of widespread waste and members of his administration have criticized the funding of programs that do not align with U.S. foreign policy goals. After his inauguration, he put virtually all of the agency's programs on a 90-day pause to be evaluated. Within days, USAID was shut down as an independent agency.
Here's a look at some of the work USAID has done around the world — and the effect the cancellation of its work is having on local communities.
(NPR)
‘You’ve Blown a Hole in the Family’: Inside the Murdochs’ Succession Drama
More than 3,000 pages of documents reveal how years of betrayals led to a messy court battle that threatens the future of Rupert’s empire.
In early December 2023, Rupert Murdoch flew into London to see his two oldest daughters, Prudence and Elisabeth. It was not a social visit.
For months, Rupert and his firstborn son, Lachlan, had been working on a secret plan to amend the family’s trust to strip three of his other children — Prue, Liz and James — of their power to influence the direction of the family business. Their lawyers had named it Project Family Harmony.
This would be Rupert’s last deal, and it was in many ways his most important one. He had devoted his entire life to building this vast global media empire, and it had changed the course of history. But the messiness of his own personal life — and a family trust whose terms had been largely dictated by a spurned ex-wife — prevented him from controlling its destiny after he was gone. His legacy was under threat, not from a competitor but from his own family.
Four Ways to Refresh Your Relationship This Valentine’s Day
With a few simple shifts in how you spend your time together, you can bring new energy to a longtime relationship.
This fall, my husband Brian and I found ourselves at loose ends. Two children had launched to college and beyond, and the third landed a restaurant job that kept her working most evenings. Suddenly, our nest felt empty. Every night could be date night, potentially. Scary!
This shift in the dynamics of our home life—after two decades centering around children—gave us an opportunity to shake up our relationship. But you don’t have to experience a transition in order to breathe new life into your relationships.
These intentional strategies can make something old feel new again—and increase your feelings of connectedness, appreciation, and joy. Whether a romantic partnership or even a longstanding friendship, there’s always an opportunity to renew. What better time than Valentine’s Day to give it a whirl?
I'll start by apologizing if this starts a firestorm in the comment section. Sorry, it seems obvious to me. Bill, as a lawyer, maybe you can add some insight.
How can we have a democracy, when two parties run the country?
Sure, they swap back and forth in every position of state and federal government. However, when the people vote for a change in course, its always stymied by characters of the other party.
Current shenanigans in the courts are all brought by democrats and levied by democrat aligned judges. The same has played out with republicans and republican aligned judges in the past.
How is this democracy? How is the constitutionality of any ruling secure when it can be pre-determined by which ever judge (party) catches the case?
I'll try to remember to pose this same question four or eight years from now when a democrat is back in office and republicans are flooding our courts to get something in front of a republican judge.
May we all find better day. May our courts find ethical accountability to the people.
Anyone want to partner in a Made in the USA pitchfork and Torch business?
And that is why you should keep your relationship with your partner in first place. Yes, kids are important and need attention, but when you make them your sole focus, they grow up thinking they are the centre of the world. And they are not. And like the story, the kids move on but your spouse (may) still be there. If you have neglected your relationship for 18 years, not sure there would be much to come back to.